WESG Global Finals - Day Two and Three

After arriving in time for the end of Day 1 due to some flight issues, I'm safe and sound at the bustling Haiku International Convention Center for Day 2 of WESG.

CS:GO took the main stage the first day, while Dota filled it the second. Hearthstone and SC2 share side-by-side stages near the main entrance about the same size. The SC2 and HS crowds are filled with players curious about their future opponents.

The matches I caught yesterday displayed numerous control decks, skewed heavily towards the late game. For example, the Osnidlo match was littered with slow decks: Control Paladin, Dead Man's Warrior, Control Priest, and Big Mage. The Paladin list has seen an increase on ladder lately, featuring Call to Arms to pull Dirty Rat and other early utility minions, and relying on the Uther of the Eben Blade and Auctionmaster Beardo combo to close games.

Dog, for example, was running Big Mage, Control Lock, Dead Man's Warrior, and Dude Paladin, with Vinecleaver and Lightfused Stegadon to burst through damage in the late game and replenish the board following a sweeper.

Most matches seem to have come down to some form of control mirror. Many players spoke about the Warlock mirror often being the deciding factor for matches, and in general, slower decks seem to be the flavor of the tournament. Despite the control decks, in a close match that Dog ultimately won, Exilessmath stole a game with Rogue via a flurry of spells with Gadgetzan Auctioneer while in exhaustion to win with one life left.

Day Three

Day 3 was similar in its meta to the rest: a sea of control archetypes with a smattering of Dude Paladin and maybe Rogue or Hunter decks. The women's divisions looked essentially the same. It seems that many of the players on the circuit are familiar with one another, and are playing many similar archetypes. Moreover, because players are aware of their groups and opponents before the tournament, players are capable of scouting and metagaming their deck and card decisions to a certain extent.